The present invention relates to a device for loading, conveying and discharging objects, comprising:    a plurality of trays each one of which is having a substantially horizontal plane intended for carrying an object from a loading position to a discharge position, in which discharge position the object leaves the tray via a discharge section of the tray,    a drive system for conveying the trays in a conveyance direction from the loading position to the discharge position, wherein for the purpose of conveying the trays along a path, the drive system comprises a series of linked drive elements,    a drive for transferring a drive power onto the drive system, which drive power is required for conveying the trays, and    a pusher arm arranged on the tray for by means of pushing away, discharging an object present on the tray, wherein pushing away takes place substantially transverse to the conveyance direction of the tray and wherein at least during conveyance of an object present on the tray the pusher arm is in a first position facing away from the discharge section, and wherein at least for discharging an object present on the tray, the pusher arm moves to a second position in which the pusher arm is near the discharge section of the tray.
Recently these kind of sorting devices became very popular in supply systems, for example for supplying shops in the field of retail, and in logistic and distribution systems wherein parcels need to be sorted. Also since e-commerce expanded enormously, a lot of articles are ordered over the Internet after which the article is automatically extracted from highly efficiently arranged stocks, after which the article or even more articles are packaged or processed in boxes. The packages and boxes including the articles ordered need to be sent to the customer having ordered the article and for this purpose, the packages and boxes need to be fed to a loading position of a sorting device, the sorting device arranged for sorting the packages and boxes to a discharging position to lead the each package or box to a bin or a further sorting device or conveyor means for further distribution to an area the customer is locating.
Such sorting devices are having a large capacity since the number of bins locating around the sorting devices may be very large in order to perform a very specific preselection of objects, items, articles, packages or boxes to be distributed to very specific areas around the world. Since the capacity of these sorting devices is very large, a plurality of feeding conveyor means are arranged around the sorting device as well to provide for a highly efficient operating sorting device to achieve that the sorting device is processing according to the highest number of packages and boxes possible.
The capacity of such sorting devices is determined by the size of the sorting device defined by the number of trays. The capacity of the sorting device is also determined by the size of the trays and the speed of the trays defined by the drive system and the controller of the drive system. It is a limitation and drawback of such sorting devices that increasement of the speed of the trays results in some objects being released and dropped off from the trays unintentionally due to dynamic behaviour of the sorting device. The dynamic behaviour of objects is undesirable and may lead to the sorting device getting out of order, in most cases causing additional logistic problems.